Did Optimus send Ironhide & crew on that "Special Run" to Earth as... a suicide mission?
Did Optimus know that Megatron was so unreachable (heavily fortified on Cybertron) that he had to dangle a worm on a hook to get him out in the open?
Was this a trap for Megatron that went horribly bad? Or was this a calculated risk?
Did the Autobots on that shuttle know what they were getting into?
Did they sign up for it, or were they picked for their ability to get the job done at any cost?

The attack on the shuttle was a sneak attack, so Optimus would have had no idea that Megatron would attack what should have appeared to be a routine mission.

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Supply routes get jumped all the time... it's a legitimate strategy.
If this was a supply run to retrieve energon from Earth, then this would be a high-priority target for the Decepticons. Prime had to have known that.

Did Optimus send Ironhide & crew on that "Special Run" to Earth as... a suicide mission?
Did Optimus know that Megatron was so unreachable (heavily fortified on Cybertron) that he had to dangle a worm on a hook to get him out in the open?
Was this a trap for Megatron that went horribly bad? Or was this a calculated risk?
Did the Autobots on that shuttle know what they were getting into?
Did they sign up for it, or were they picked for their ability to get the job done at any cost?

Click to expand...

I have no idea where you're getting this impression from. There's absolutely nothing to indicate that the shuttle run was 'bait' or a 'suicide mission'. Prime would never have risked the lives of his oldest and dearest comrades like that. The plan was rumbled, pure and simple.

Did Optimus send Ironhide & crew on that "Special Run" to Earth as... a suicide mission?
Did Optimus know that Megatron was so unreachable (heavily fortified on Cybertron) that he had to dangle a worm on a hook to get him out in the open?
Was this a trap for Megatron that went horribly bad? Or was this a calculated risk?
Did the Autobots on that shuttle know what they were getting into?
Did they sign up for it, or were they picked for their ability to get the job done at any cost?

Click to expand...

I've always understood "special run" to mean that it would have likely been their last supply run before they were able to strike back at the Decepticons. Ironhide and co. were just ambushed by Megatrons forces.

That's a pretty interesting concept, and I can see where you're coming from. But the G1 cartoons and the movie were not so complex, story-wise. So I think it all boiled down to poor planning on the Autobots behave.

I dont understand why Prime ignored Ironhide when he said: When are we going to start busting Deceptichops!

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Because making a run to Earth for Energon was more important.

Ironhide protests Optimus' order to go to Earth, and Prime cuts him off by saying that they don't have the energy to make an attack on the Decepticons. Notice that after Optimus explains this, Ironhide is a lot more enthusiastic about making the trip? He knows that by getting more Energon, he'll soon be able to "bust some Deceptichops".